1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for managing information regarding drivers such as printer drivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a preset that is a collection of several specified values for specified setting items can be stored corresponding to a printer driver in an information processing apparatus (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-175164, for example). In some information processing apparatuses, a preset suited for a printer corresponding to a driver can be registered when installing the driver in the information processing apparatus.
Also, depending on the operating system (hereinafter abbreviated as “OS”) of an information processing apparatus, print settings are shared among a plurality of installed drivers. In an information processing apparatus with such an OS, the OS itself manages registered presets and, for example when a print request has been given, a preset corresponding to a driver selected first is reflected and a print setting screen is displayed. When the driver is switched to another driver thereafter, the settings displayed on the print setting screen for the previous driver before switching are shared with the driver after switching.
However, if a preset is registered in the information processing apparatus each time a driver is installed in the aforementioned case where the OS manages presets, there is the problem that similar presets are registered and thus overlap one another, for example when corresponding printers have similar functions. In this case, not only the storage area is used wastefully, but also preset management by the user is complicated.